Brutal elimination of custodians of Indian plurality continues. This time the enemies of a free, frank and inclusive India successfully targeted noted journalist and social worker Gauri Lankesh. The 55-year-old journalist was assassinated by unidentified persons who fired at her from point blank range. Did she deserve the bullets, asking the whole of India in unison? Starting from the Prime Minister to the common man, everyone is demanding that the culprits should be booked at the earliest and exemplary punishment should be handed over to them so that in future none can dare to think about such a crime, forget about executing it. But to our horror even a week after the heinous act not a single culprit has been arrested so far. The Karnataka Government as usual has formed one Special Investigation team (SIT). The Centre, on its part, is interested in handing over the case to Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI).
As no progress has been made so far in this case, we the citizens of the country are apprehensive about the real intent of both the Centre and the State Government. Are they really interested in nabbing the culprits? Instead of making an all out effort to nab the culprits, we are witnessing a verbal fight between the Congress and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). The two parties are indulging in the blame game in such a manner which gives the impression that winning the debate is more important than bringing the perpetrators to book. It is time now for the both the parties to realise that the nation wants to know who killed Gauri Lankesh? The people at present are not interested in knowing why was she killed? Because, we all know that fact can only be known after the arrest of the culprits. Instead of being engaged in heated arguments, both the parties should realise that if the murderers are allowed to go scot free, it will not earn any good name for the country. Rather, it will provide India-baiters a chance to paint the country as an intolerant one.
More dangerous is the fact that people with vested interests are trying to divide the society over the murder. While some say that the noted journalist was killed for criticising the Rashtriya Swangsevak Sangha (RSS) and its ideology, others argue it was the handiwork of the Naxalites. As both the sides present various theories to establish their right, wilfully ignoring the fact that killers may be the supporters of any group, but they have committed a crime for which they should be punished. Trying to ascertain the motive behind the killing before nabbing the culprits is an effort similar to putting the cart ahead of the horse. Why can’t we wait till the culprits are arrested? Once they are arrested, we will definitely be able to know the real cause behind such a dastardly act. Public trial of such an unfortunate incident is not desirable. The more we encourage such acts, the more we will strengthen the enemies of mankind, who believe in silencing the opponents’ voices forever to win a debate.
